Alfred Hitchcock El La Musique (CD review).
The one thing you can say about the musical scores of Alfred Hitchcock films is that if you’re familiar with the movies then you will immediately recognise the music as they play on this double CD.
With ‘Alfred Hitchcock El La Musique’, you have the musical suites from 16 films with 5 extra tracks from ‘Spellbound’. You can read the full list below. Unusual for Milan Music, other than titles and composers, everything else is written in French. My limited knowledge of that for the 8 page booklet says that this is more to do with the four composers, Bernard Herrmann, Arthur Benjamin, Dimitri Tiomkin and Franz Waxman than the films. It’ll hardly be surprising that the majority of the films here were soundtracked by Herrmann.
From the build-up of ‘North By North West’, you know you’re in for a treat. It’s also the first time I’ve heard the ‘Psycho’ theme in its entirety and, yes, it does include the famous shriek, shriek.
‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ includes the operatic vocal piece. ‘Que Sera, Sera’ is obviously sung by Doris Day from said film.
The eighth track has Bernard Herrmann discusses how Hitchcock uses music to heighten his films and the importance of music to a film.
The second CD has a more jazz influence but as these are mostly not done by Herrmann, that should come as no surprise. They give a contrast between the styles Hitchcock uses in his films to either scare or beguile you.
Bear in mind that these are the original music tracks should make you rush out to get because they are all superb pieces of music in their own right. As such, on a couple of the tracks, you get the odd scream as well which I think I would have been disappointed had they been missed, proving their originality. If you’re a Hitchcock fan, then you will certainly want this pair of CDs in your collection.
CD 1: 38 minutes-
- North By North West prelude 3:05
- Vertigo love music 6:36
- Psycho suite 6:33
- The Wrong Man prelude 2:07
- The Man Who Knew Too Much: Cantata – The Storm Clouds 8:13
- Que Sera, Sera 2:04
- Vertigo prelude and rooftop 4:38
- Bernard Herrmann On Film Music 4:32
CD 2:- 58 minutes
- I Confess theme 3:28
- Dial M For Murder them 3:16
- Rear Window jukebox # 6 2:27
- Suspicion main title 0:53
- Strangers On A Train main title 1:53
- To Catch A Thief main title 1:32
- Shadow Of A Doubt main title 2:06
- Rope main title 2:01
- The Paradine Case 12:27
- Spellbound prelude 3:13
- Love theme 6:40
- Subconscious 3:11
- Schera 3:08
- Terror On The Ski Run 3:15
- Spellbound concerto 3:15
GF Willmetts
May 2018
(pub: Milan Music. 2 CDs CD1: 38 minutes 8 tracks . CD2: 52:33 minutes 15 tracks. Price: (UK). ASIN: 398-013-2)
check out website: www.milanmusic.fr